Editorial: Bay Area casino plan bad for California

Monday, January 10, 2005  

"Displaying his political muscle, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got a Southern California Indian tribe to stop operating video lottery terminals at its casino last week, a move that likely avoided a long and costly legal battle. But it was just one small step in the state's need to get a grip on the wildly expanding gambling industry.

Schwarzenegger's ill-advised plan to allow one tribe to build a mammoth 5, 000-slot casino along Interstate 80 in San Pablo last year -- which would have effectively brought Las Vegas-style gambling to urban areas -- set off alarms in the Legislature, which rightly tabled the proposal. Yet, as attempts by tribes to build casinos in Richmond, Oakland and elsewhere indicate, the governor's willingness to approve new compacts has blurred the expectation that Indian gaming would be limited in scope and located primarily in rural areas."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Time for a new deal on gambling (The San Francisco Chronicle 1/9)